Saving People, Hunting Things
by ExactChase
Summary: While looking for a way to stop Salem, the group has their eyes opened to another world: The world of the creepy, the demented, the unexplained. The unearthly. The Supernatural. [Not A Crossover, But Inspired By The CW Show] [Originally "Too Far Gone]
1. Simple Man

**A/N: I was really unhappy with the first chapter, so I rewrote it. **

"Qrow Branwen," Ironwood said. His arms were crossed as he slowly and confidently strode over to Atlas' newest arrivals, trying to look displeased and failing. He did, however, look slightly sad. "I thought you were headed to Mystral?" He questioned.

"Compromised." Qrow bluntly said. Ironwood's expression failed to change upon hearing this, almost as if he'd expected the news.

"And what of Ozpin?" The General stiffly asked.

"He's not in charge anymore." Qrow gruffly said, his voice dripping with malice. This is the news that seemed to surprise Ironwood. "She is." Qrow seemed to beam with pride as he pointed to RWBY's leader, who was currently speaking with her team about something or another.

"You cannot be serious!" Ironwood said with a sneer. "She is a child, Qrow! A child!"

"A child who just took out a Leviathan with her eyes and has more honesty in one cell than Oz has ever had in who knows how many bodies!" Qrow quietly shot back, careful to ensure the teen hunters didn't hear him.

"I take it he told you something you didn't want to hear?" Ironwood asked. To say he was annoyed would be putting it lightly. Qrow nodded.

"Something like that," he grumbled. He slowly leaned in, getting close enough to ensure only he and the general could hear the conversation. "Salem can't be killed." He whispered. He pulled back, soaking in the man's shocked expression. "Oz doesn't have a plan. He never did."

"What do we do now?" Ironwood asked. His voice conveyed the same brokenness that Qrow had felt just days prior.

"Follow the kid's lead," Qrow said, "She's good, Jimmy. Even better than the last silver-eyed warrior we had on our side." Ironwood turn his nose up, and sighed, letting his head drop and turn to his right. His eyes never left the floor.

"You and the others can stay in the bunker for now," he bluntly said, ignoring Qrow's demand for the most part. "See what you can find on Salem in Oz's old journals. You and the child's scrolls should get you in. We have more important things to worry about than a petty power struggle. Don't let this be our downfall." He pointed a warning finger at the birdman and marched back off to God knows where.

"He was in a hurry," Yang scoffed as she slowly approached. "What'd you tell him?"

"Caught him up to speed, put in my write-in candidate for Oz's permanent replacement." Qrow said with a smug grin, "He didn't seem to like that second one."

"Yeah, Atlas people really don't like the idea of Rubes being in charge of anything," she said. He didn't ask how she knew that was his preferred replacement for Ozpin, as it was kinda obvious. "He'll come around to it. They always do." She patted her uncle on the shoulder and walked back over to her team, a proud grin stuck on her face as she wrapped an arm around her sister, helping the spent silver-eyed warrior walk. Maria assured them that the bouts of exhaustion after using her eyes was going to pass eventually, lessening each time.

[Shift]

Ruby was almost asleep on her feet by the time they arrived at the bunker. Yang kept having to wake her, because the girl kept trying to sleepwalk into walls on the way there. Ruby insisted that she was fine, despite being physically incapable of keeping her eyes open and staying awake.

The bunker's exterior was disguised as an old, rundown factory in the industrial district of Atlas. The door was made out of an old sewer entrance. It had a worn concrete arch above a brick layer and a thick, metal door that couldn't be opened unless you either had a key, or your scroll was allowed access by Ironwood himself. Rusty, metal railings led the way down the stairs and to the door. Behind the first door was an identically thick metal door, and a floor covered in a metal grate.

Immediately upon opening the second door, the group was greeted by the sight of a nice, ornate railing of a marble balcony, with four large, metal pillars holding it up. On the side of the balcony opposite the door was two nice leather recliners and an even nicer inn table between them.

Between the two sections of the balcony was a metal staircase that curved to match the curve of the wall and balcony. The floor below looked like a war room, with computer stations lining several of the walls.

In the center of the room was a table with a map of Remnant on it, surrounded by six black leather desk chairs. Directly at the bottom of the stairs was a doorway, leading off to the bedrooms and marked as such.

Directly opposite that was a nearly identical doorway, telling them the supply room and kitchen was that way. The blue tinted window behind the balcony casted a light on the wall that the impression that they were underwater, despite not actually being so.

On the wall opposite of the balcony, there was a set of a couple steps, leading to a large, concrete doorway. Behind that doorway was a large library, reminiscent of Beacon's library. It had nice, hardwood floors, brick walls and concrete pillars that stretched to the ceiling. Between the pillars and the wall were waist high bookshelves with various swords and weapons on racks atop them. In the center of the room was a pair of large, wooden tables four seats around each and a lamp in the center.

The left and right side walls each had large, concrete arches with arched bookshelves made to fit perfectly inside each one. The top shelf of each bookshelf acted as a large display case, with armor and weapons of legendary hunters and generals being displayed proudly in such shelves.

On the wall opposite the entrance was another large archway, this time leading to a room that's only inhabitant was a large telescope. Two more door ways flanked that one arch, with signs that indicated they lead to the same places as the first pair of doors they saw.

They paid no mind to Yang as she swiftly carried Ruby off to bed, the blonde having become tired of having to lead the exhausted girl away from walls and ledges a long time ago.

"Whoa." Was all Jaune could manage to say. This place was huge and beautiful.

"Oz has these bunkers all over the place," Qrow said. "Each is like a treasure trove of knowledge. I'm sure we can find something that could help us kill Salem in here."

[Shift]

The members of teams WBY and JNR spent their night helping Qrow, Maria and Oscar comb through the bunker's library, while Ruby slept peacefully in one of the bedrooms. In their opinion; it was a well deserved rest; she had done so much the day before, and it was a miracle she had been able to stay on her feet as long as she had. On top of all that, Ruby kept having to be the voice of reason among the group, to lead them all to victory over Salem. To make sure they could save the world. It was a greater responsibility than any her age should ever have to carry. But Ruby was doing better than Qrow, who was easily twice her age and a hundred times more experienced. Ruby was the definition of grace under pressure.

Even if this was all just a suicide mission: They wasn't anyone they'd rather lead them to their deaths, because as long as Ruby was their leader, she wouldn't let them go down without a fight.


	2. The Untraveled Road

**A/N: I had one plan for this originally, but while writing this chapter, it kinda evolved.**

For the first time in a long time, Ruby awoke from a peaceful sleep. She did not jolt awake because she did not have her usual nightmares. Ruby sighed happily at this revelation, slowly pulling herself from bed with a groan. She wasn't entirely sure where she was at the moment, given that she had kinda fallen asleep a few dozen times on the way there. She had a vague idea of where she was, at least. There was a bed, and her bag filled with her things, and there was a shower. She really needed a shower.

Ruby quickly took a much needed shower and when she stepped out, she found that her clothes from the day prior had been removed from the room while she was bathing and replaced with a neatly set of plain, black pajamas. They were clearly temporary, only to wear while her clothes were being washed. Ruby shrugged and got dressed, stepping outside of the bedroom and feeling the cold, tile floors against her bare feet.

It didn't take Ruby long to find the kitchen, marching through the war room on a mission. She was starving, and really needed food. She saw the others in the library out of the corner of her eye, but continued on anyway. They didn't really notice her, either.

They were still buried in their research, looking for something—anything that could help kill, incapacitate, or trap Salem. At this point, they'd honestly settle for a way to open an interdimensional rift so they could shove her through. So far, they had found nothing. And they hadn't even scratched the surface with that huge library.

"This stuff is insane," Weiss said, breaking the three hour silence with something other than shuffling papers, page turning and disappointed sighs. "I mean, this book tells about a Grimm that has no physical form and needs to possess a living thing."

"Yeah," Qrow boredly said, "called Demons. Nasty bastards. Impossible to kill."

"Then what do you do about them?" Yang asked.

"Dispel it." The man said, leaning backwards in his chair, precariously balancing his weight on just one of the legs. He landed the chair back on the floor with a loud thud, leaning forward and spinning his book to show them what he was talking about. "Say these words and the thing goes back where it came from." Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a translation for that?" She asked. "Because I can't even try to pronounce any of that." Qrow shook his head.

"Nothing that'd work. And—they're not Grimm, by the way." This seemed to get the attention of them all, as Qrow just kinda went back to reading. "They're people—or at least they used to be. Most of 'em don't even remember who they were before."

"Before what?" Jaune asked, sounding a bit more afraid than he'd wanted to.

"Before Hell." He bluntly stated.

"Wait—," Oscar cut in, "if there's a Hell, does that mean there's a Heaven?"

"Yup." Qrow said, tacking a tired yawn on the end of the sentence to show how little he cared about the subject. "There's a purgatory too."

"Could we put Salem there?" Maria asked.

Qrow shook his head, "She could absorb the souls inside and become even more powerful." The silence resumed, this time until Ruby appeared, yawning as she entered.

"Put your clothes in the wash." Yang said, not even looking up from what she was reading.

"What're you guys doing?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Combing the lore for something to help with Salem." Jaune told her, not looking up either. Ruby groaned and joined them, using her semblance to speed up her end a little.

[Shift]

Thanks to Ruby's semblance and a ton of fuel for the girl, they wrapped up a lot sooner than any of them thought they would. Nothing of any help existed inside any one of those books. Though, Qrow has revealed to them that there was more to hunt than just Grimm. There was an entire world of demons, ghosts, ghouls, vampires and werewolves. They thought him crazy at first, but as they read more lore, they found that he wasn't lying and he wasn't crazy.

"These things are killing people. All over the place." Ruby said, looking up from her scroll. Her face conveyed a look of pure horror. "We should do something about it!"

"Ruby," Qrow tiredly said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "we got our hands full with this Salem thing already. We don't need to add this to our to-do list."

"We combed through every piece of lore we could get our hands on, Uncle Qrow. And we got nothing! Sitting around here and hoping we come up with something isn't gonna help anything! I mean, there's a case here in Atlas, so it wouldn't be like we'd be going all the way back to Vale."

"You think there's a case here? In Atlas?" Qrow skeptically asked, almost like he was humoring a child's imagination.

"Yup." Ruby proudly said, "Some guy was found with his eyes scratched out. Locked house. Kids upstairs."

Qrow tiredly sighed, "Fine!" He exclaimed, "Get a suit and tie first, though." She happily skipped off to do so, while he grumbled to himself, cursing her ability to be right all of the time.

"Why a suit and tie?" Jaune suddenly spoke up.

"Oh," Qrow said, "People won't talk to hunters. They will—however—talk to the Vytal Bureau Of Investigation." The man pulled out a leatherbound badge, with his picture on it. The badge indicated that he was a VBI Agent, despite never having met a real agent. Qrow chuckled to himself, scanning his eyes over the fake badge. He then stood and disappeared around the corner. He couldn't be the only one with a badge, they wouldn't buy that. He knew for a fact that the supply room had several old, fake badges. Mainly ones that had belonged to Raven and Summer. Qrow knew Taiyang probably still had countless of his own from back when Team STRQ hunted down the supernatural—probably a good five years before Yang was born. Qrow chuckled at the memories of Summer introducing herself as Agent Jett and Taiyang as her partner, Agent Price.

Qrow picked up the old Agent Jett badge, "might as well repurpose." He said to himself. It didn't take long for the birdman to actually make the badge for Ruby, especially once she returned in the suit. He quickly snapped a picture of her in said suit and carefully pasted the picture over Summer's on the ID.

[Shift]

An hour and a half later, Ruby and Qrow were walking into the Atlas mortuary. Qrow smoothly pulled his badge from his coat, showing it to the morgue tech. Ruby—upon seeing this, fumbled to get her badge from her own coat.

"I'm Agent Blackheart," Qrow casually introduced himself, "And this is my partner, Agent Jett." The morgue tech raised an eyebrow at Ruby's inexperience. "She's new." Qrow said with an embarrassed smile.

"How can I help you, Agents?" The young tech asked them.

"We're here to investigate the Shoemaker corpse." Qrow gruffly told him, immediately moving on. The morgue tech nodded, almost nervously, leading them down the hall.

"The police report says his daughter found him." Ruby said, barely able to hold a careless, professional tone, "said his eyes were bleeding."

"More than that." The tech told her, walking over to the aforementioned body and pulling the sheet back. "They practically liquified."

"Any sign of a struggle?" Qrow asked, rolling his eyes at the sound of Ruby trying not to get sick, "Maybe somebody did this to him?"

"Nope." The tech told him, "Besides the daughter, he was all alone."

"What's the cause of death?" Qrow asked. He could see Ruby in the corner of his eye, covering her face a looking away. It was a truly gruesome sight, but it's not like she hadn't seen a dead body before.

"Doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm. Something burst up there, that's for sure."

"What do you mean?" Qrow furrowed his eyebrows.

"Intense cerebral bleeding. This guy had more blood in his skull than anyone I've ever seen."

Ruby choked back a gag, "Those eyes: What would cause something like that?"

"Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims." The tech rationalized.

"Yeah?" Qrow flippantly asked, "You ever she's exploding eyeballs?"

[Shift]

Ruby had been truly grateful to leave that room. She knew it wouldn't be a pretty sight, but nothing could have prepared her for… that. She shuddered just thinking about it.

"Maybe I was wrong," Ruby said, "maybe it's just a freak medical thing!" Qrow turned to face her, grinning smugly.

"In my long and varied career, it's never a freak medical thing. It's always some sign of an awful supernatural death." She looked rather tired of his teasing right about now, and he chuckled. He was going to enjoy the shit out of this.


	3. Bloody Mary, Part 1

Ruby shook her head free from the nauseating memory of Steven Shoemaker's corpse. That was just plain horrifying, but Ruby knew that if she really wanted to fight the things other people were ignorant of, she'd be exposed to plenty sights much more gruesome than liquified eyeballs. She had to get over it.

Her uncle seemed entirely unaffected by what he had just seen, chowing down on a hot dog he'd gotten from a street vendor. He had offered to get her one, but she declined. She wouldn't eat for a week after what she just saw.

"Alright, let's go talk to the daughter." Qrow told her, rubbing his hands together and tossing the wrapper in a nearby trash bin. He quietly fist pumped.

"Don't get too excited." Ruby told him. "House is on the other side of town."

"I can fly." Qrow simply stated.

"I can transform my body into a cloud of rose petals." Ruby countered in the same tone.

"Is that a challenge?" Qrow asked with a smirk.

"You're on, old man." Qrow's hair was suddenly pushed back as he watched a red blur disappear down the street.

[Shift]

"I'm telling you, I got lost!" Qrow indignantly whined to his niece, who was not letting his complaining ruin her mood.

"Lost is certainly the word I would use to describe what you did there." Ruby smugly said. He quietly grumbled to himself.

"Yeah, whatever." He said, ruffling her hair. She shot him an adorable glare as she fixed it, opting to put it up to look even more like a VBI Agent—as if the black suits and black ties weren't enough proof already. The two bounded up the steps to the Shoemaker house, their steps almost in sync. Qrow pounded his fist on the door and they both immediately swapped their expressions to that of professional agents. This time, when the door opened, Ruby was ready with her badge, pulling it out as Qrow did the same.

"Agents Blackheart And Jett from the V.B.I." Qrow told the woman at the door. Ruby assumed this girl to be the daughter who found Mr. Shoemaker. "We're here about the man who died here not too long ago." The woman nodded.

"That was my dad." She told them. "I thought it was just some kinda freak medical thing."

"It probably was," Qrow lied, "But the boss just wants us to come down here and make sure. Ya know?" She gave a polite nod and held the door for them as they walked in.

"Yeah, sure. Come on in." She told them.

Ruby took a look around the foyer as the entered. It was nice and plain, reminding Ruby of her own childhood home. If she hadn't known better, Ruby would never have suspected that someone had died a violent and gruesome death just a few days prior.

"Donna, right?" Ruby asked. The woman nodded. "Well, Donna, we're just gonna ask you a few standard questions, if you don't mind." Donna nodded again.

"So," Qrow took the lead on the questioning, "were there any symptoms for your father's stroke? Did he mention any dizziness? Migraines?" Donna shook her head.

"No." She told them.

"That's because it wasn't a stroke!" A little girl called from the opposite end of the foyer.

"Lily," Donna said, "don't say that!"

"What?" Ruby asked.

"I'm sorry, she's just upset." Donna quickly deflected.

"No," Lily insisted, "it happened because of me."

"Sweetie, it didn't." Donna said, reminding Ruby of her own older sister. Ruby slowly walked over to the smaller girl, kneeling down to be at eye level.

"Lily," She sweetly said, "why would you say something like that?"

"Right before he died, I said it." Ruby furrowed her eyebrows at this remark.

"Said what?" She calmly asked.

"Bloody Mary, three times in the bathroom mirror." Lily told Ruby, regret lacing her voice. There was a pause as both hunters thought about the validity of this. "She took his eyes, that's what she does."

"That's not why Dad died," Donna insisted, "This isn't your fault."

"I think your sister's right, Lily." Qrow interjected. "There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?"

"I don't think so." Lily told them. Ruby nodded, as if to say that this only furthered Donna's point and stood.

"Mind if we go take a look around?" Ruby asked, motioning to the stairs.

"Sure," Donna said, "go ahead." The two walked upstairs, grateful that Donna hadn't followed them. The two rounded the corner to the bathroom, and pushed the door open. There was still a bit of dried blood on the floor. It made sense, considering how much blood was reported to be at the scene.

"So," Ruby quietly said, "in your 'long and varied career' you ever find any evidence of the Bloody Mary legend?" Qrow shook his head. "I mean, everywhere else, all over Remnant, kids play Bloody Mary. And as far as we know, nobody dies from it."

"Yeah, well, maybe everywhere it's just a story, but here it's actually happening." Qrow told her.

"The place where the legend began?" She asked. The older man shrugged and opened the medicine cabinet.

"But according to the legend, the person who says B—" Ruby stopped, looking at the medicine cabinet mirror—which was now facing her—and closed it. "The person who says you-know-what gets it. But here—"

"Shoemaker gets it instead." Qrow finished. Ruby nodded. "Never heard anything like that before. Still, the guy did die right in front of the mirror, and the daughter's right. The way the legend goes, you know who scratches your eyes out."

"It's worth looking into." Ruby simply said.

They searched the bathroom up and down, but found no further evidence that he had died of anything other than a stroke.

"Who are you two?" A voice suddenly called. Ruby whipped out her badge.

"VBI. We think something happened to Mr. Shoemaker." She told the young woman. She was blonde and she was tall, looking to be the same age as Ruby. Probably one of Donna's friends.

"Yeah," The girl said, "a stroke."

"That's not a sign of a typical stroke. We think it might be something else." Qrow told her, Ruby being mostly ignorant on the symptoms of a stroke.

"Like what?"

"Honestly?" Ruby rhetorically asked, "we don't know yet. But we don't want it to happen to anyone else."

"What's your name, kid?" Qrow asked. The girl was clearly made uncomfortable by a VBI Agent asking a question like that.

"Uh—Charlie." She hesitantly said. Qrow nodded and handed her a card with a VBI shield on it and a scroll number.

"If you think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary...just give us a call." He told her.

[Shift]

The pair reentered the bunker, the younger jogging down the steps as she pulled off her tie, while the older took his time.

"Alright," Qrow exhaustedly said, "say Bloody Mary really is haunting this town. There's gonna be some sort of proof—Like a local woman who died nasty." He told her.

"I take it you guys found something?" Maria called from the library.

"Yeah," Ruby said, completely ignoring the old lady, "But a legend this widespread is hard. I mean, there's like fifty versions of who she actually is. One story says she's a witch, another says she's a mutilated bride, there's a lot more."

"I consider myself rather educated on the origins of widespread legends!" Maria said, still being ignored by the two, even as they entered the library. Qrow leaned against a pillar, and Ruby sat on the edge of the table as they spoke.

"What're we looking for then?" Qrow asked.

"Every version's got a few things in common." Ruby told him. "It's always a woman named Mary, and she always dies right in front of a mirror. So we've gotta search local newspapers—public records as far back as they go. See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill."

"Well, that sounds annoying." Qrow scoffed. "You kids have fun with that!" He suddenly pushed off the pillar and made his way towards the bedroom. "Let me know when you find something!" Ruby huffed in annoyance, but let him go. He'd earned the rest. Looking around, Ruby immediately noticed that it was just her, Yang and Maria. Which wasn't exactly good for research; Maria didn't know how to use the Internet, and Yang didn't like reading extensively. Ruby sighed and set her sights on the internet's vast archive of local knowledge—only local because of the CCT's current indisposition.


	4. Bloody Mary, Part 2

Ash. Red. Blood. Arrows. "Why did you let me die?!" A voice shrieked.

Ruby awoke with a start, jolting from having her face down on the table to sitting straight up in her chair.

"Why'd you let me fall asleep?" Ruby groggily groaned.

"Because I'm an awesome sister. What did you dream about?" Yang countered.

"Lollipops and candy canes." Ruby sarcastically quipped.

"Yeah." Yang said, not sounding entirely convinced, "sure."

"You find anything?" Ruby asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Oh, besides a whole new level of frustration?" Yang said, clearly annoyed at what little she'd found. "No. I've looked at everything. A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror, and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave, but uh, no Mary." Ruby sighed, laying her chin on her arms.

"Maybe we just haven't found it yet." The more optimistic of the two offered.

"I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area," Yang told her, "you know...eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here, maybe it just isn't Mary." Yang shrugged. Qrow very suddenly entered the room.

"Get your Fed-Threads on, kid." He told Ruby, "I just got a call from that girl we met yesterday—Charlie—body count's gone up." Ruby looked up at Yang, with a look that could only be described as the non-verbal equivalent of 'oh shit'.

[Shift]

Ruby and Qrow listened intently as Charlie told them all about how her friend Jill had died the night before, her eyes scratched out. Exactly the same as Shoemaker.

Ruby put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "I'm sorry." She sincerely told her.

"And she said it." Qrow looked over at his niece from behind Charlie, as if to say that this proved their theory. "I heard her say it. But it couldn't be because of that. I'm insane, right?"

"No," Qrow told her, "you're not insane."

"Oh God, that makes me feel so much worse."

"Look," Ruby offered, "We think something's happening here. Something that can't be explained."

"And we're gonna stop it but we could use your help." Qrow told her.

[Shift]

Jill's mom has been more than willing to allow the 'VBI' to investigate her daughter's sudden death. She didn't quite buy into the whole 'freak medical thing' theory. Especially since it had already happened to Mr. Shoemaker. It was beginning to look like a serial killer to a lot of people in the neighborhood, so they were just glad to see the feds were on top of it—not that they would be vocal about any of their concerns. Atlas was a town of sheople. If one person said it was a freak medical thing, then everyone agreed publicly, despite there being a good amount of evidence suggesting otherwise.

Jill's mom however, has lost a child to this, and was eager for any resolution, even allowing the agents to bring Charlie onto the crime scene.

"Hit the lights," Qrow told Charlie, as he handed Ruby a camcorder.

"What're you guys looking for?" Charlie asked, doing as instructed.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find it." Qrow told her. "Night vision." He pointed at the camcorder in Ruby's hands.

"I don't know how to do that." Ruby informed him. Ever the gentleman, Qrow reached over and turned on the night vision for her. "Thanks." She said, not even sure what he wanted her to do with it. She aimed it at him, just making sure it was working.

"Do I look like Spruce Willis?" He quipped. Ruby shook her head and walked away. She started by going over to the mirror, scanning it up and down with the camera. She assumed this is what he wanted her to do with it, but wasn't entirely sure.

"So I don't get it." Ruby told him, "I mean...the first victim didn't summon Mary, and the second victim did. How's she choosing them?"

Qrow shrugged, "Beats me," He said, "I just wanna know why Jill said it in the first place."

"It was just a joke." Charlie whined.

"Somebody's gonna say it again," Qrow told them, "it's only a matter of time." As Ruby began to scan the bottom of the mirror, she noticed trickles of something running out from behind the mirror.

"You got a black light?" Ruby called to Qrow, who nodded. Ruby heaved the mirror from it's spot on the wall, years of fighting with Crescent Rose helping her carry such a heavy object with ease. She gently set it down on Jill's bed and Qrow tossed her a black light. He and Charlie watched with bated breath as Ruby slowly peeled the brown paper from the back of the mirror, scanning what was underneath with the black light. Once she reached the center of the mirror, she saw a handprint with a name written below it.

"Barry Bryman?" Charlie asked, reading the name aloud.

"You know who that is?" Qrow gruffly asked. Charlie shook her head.

"No." She told him.

"I'll call Yang," Ruby said, "See if she can't find anything on this guy." Yang answered almost immediately, and found something on Barry pretty quickly as well.

"He was an eight year old boy," Yang's voice coming through the speaker of Ruby's scroll. "Two years ago, he was killed in a hit and run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry. But nobody got the plates or saw the driver."

"Jill drove that car." Charlie said, shocked.

"We gotta get back to the Shoemaker house." Qrow said.

"Thanks, Yang." Ruby said, "we gotta go now!" She quickly hung up before Yang could say anything more. Yang sighed to herself.

"Next time, I'm going with them. Research sucks." She quietly grumbled.

[Shift]

Just as expected, Ruby had found another name on the back of Shoemaker's mirror: Linda Shoemaker.

"Why are you asking me this?" Donna asked, annoyed by their questioning.

"It's important." Qrow gruffly told her.

"Linda's my mom," Donna told them, "she overdosed on sleeping pills. It was an accident, and that's it. I think you two should go." Qrow sighed and motioned for Ruby to follow him out the door.

"Do you think Shoemaker killed his wife?" Ruby asked him once they were outside.

"Maybe." Qrow simply said. He looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. "We should head back." He told her, "It's getting late."

"What about Mary?" Ruby asked.

"I'll see if Jimmy can't get us into the VCIC. We should do a worldwide search—at this point, any Mary who died in front of a mirror is good enough for me."

"And if he won't?"

"I have my ways." Qrow said with a smug smirk.

[Shift]

"The way Mary's choosing her victims," Ruby thought aloud, pacing the length of both tables in the library. "It seems like there's a pattern. With Shoemaker and then Jill's hit and run. Both had secrets where people died."

"There's a lot of folklore about mirrors," Blake suddenly added, "that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets, that they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them."

"Right," Qrow said, "So maybe if you've got a secret, I mean like a really nasty one where someone died, then Mary sees it, and punishes you for it."

"Whether you're the one who summoned her or not." Ruby finished.

"Take a look at this." Qrow waved Ruby over, and Blake followed as well, the faunas now kinda invested in how this would play out. He had a picture pulled up on the computer of a woman lying in a pool of blood in front of a mirror. On that same mirror, there was a bloody handprint and the letters "tre" written in blood.

"That's the same handprint." Ruby said in awe.

"Her name was Mary Worthington," Qrow told her, "an unsolved murder in Mystral where someone broke into her apartment and cut her eyes out."

"That sounds like our Mary, alright." Ruby said. Qrow's eyes scanned the information the VBI had on Mary, then sighed.

"Dammit." He quietly cursed. "Looks like she was cremated."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ruby asked. Qrow looked over his shoulder at her.

"Cause if she still had a body, we could just burn it and end this."

"Alright," Ruby said, "What do we do now?"

"We find that mirror." Qrow told her, carefully looking for a location on said mirror. "Which seems was returned to Mary's family a long time ago. I'm gonna make a few calls and see if we can't pin down a location for that damn thing." Ruby nodded, but before she could say anything more, her scroll rang. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw that it was not someone with whom she was familiar with. She showed her uncle the number, confused. "I, uh, gave Charlie your number too." Ruby threw her hands up in the universal sign of 'whatever' and answered the call.

"Agent Jett, VBI." She emotionlessly said.

"She's really good at this," Maria pointed out, her sudden appearance making Qrow jump.

"Yeah," Blake agreed, reclaiming her seat across from Qrow. "In the comparatively short time I've known her, she's always been exceptionally good at helping people."

"Say what you want about Oz," Qrow proudly said, "he sure as hell knows how to pick 'em."

Ruby suddenly came flying back in the room, quickly grabbing her coat from the back of her chair and straightening her tie.

"I gotta go help Charlie with something," She hurriedly said, "find that mirror. Quickly." And on that note, the girl activated her semblance and disappeared.

[Shift]

"Well," Qrow said, setting down his scroll. "It looks like Mary's brother just moved to Atlas a week ago, and sold that mirror to a local pawnshop."

"So," Blake said, "wherever that mirror goes, that's where her spirit goes?"

"Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow." Qrow said, sparing a few worried glances at the door. Ruby had been gone for the better part of an hour. Where the hell was she?

"Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?" Yang asked, her sudden entrance and knowledge on the subject surprising them all.

"There is," Blake said, "when someone would die in a house people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped."

"Mary dies in front of the mirror," Qrow told them, "it draws in her spirit."

"But that doesn't explain how she's able to move through like a hundred different mirrors." Yang pointed out.

"I don't know," Qrow said, "but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it." Qrow's scroll very suddenly rang before the conversation could continue any longer. Caller ID said it was Ruby. He answered it without letting it ring more than once. "Hey, Kid." He very calmly said, leaning back in his chair for emphasis. "What's going on?" He suddenly sat up. "You can't bring her here!" There was a long pause on his end, "this is technically a secret government facility, you can't just bring a civilian here!" A shorter pause, "because it's—gah!" He was clearly running out of excuses. "Fine! Whatever! Call if there are any complications!" He swiftly hung up, huffing in annoyance. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Charlie, it was that he knew the General wouldn't be very happy if he found out they'd let a civilian into one of his safehouses.

When Ruby finally arrived with Charlie, she filled Qrow and the others in on what had happened, but only after Qrow led the 'witness' to a hidden, room behind one of the shelves in the supply room. The room itself was mostly unremarkable, with just a single, wooden chair and three concrete walls. According to Charlie, Donna had said it three times in the bathroom mirror at school and inadvertently sent Mary after Charlie.

"That should mean that Charlie has a secret." Qrow said, giving voice to his niece's thoughts.

"Right," Ruby said, "But I didn't get a chance to ask her on the way over here." Ruby had spent the last hour and a half leading Charlie to the bunker in the pouring rain, with her tie covering the girl's eyes. Needless to say, Ruby certainly needed to change out of her fed-threads. Even as she stood there, talking to Qrow, she was clearly freezing.

"Your sister and I will talk to her. Get changed and head to this address." The birdman handed her a slip of paper with an address written on it. "The mirror should be there. They're closed, so you'll probably have to break in. Just find the mirror and smash it."

"Right." Ruby said with a nervous smile and nod. She could do this. This was no different than stealing that airship in Argus. Lives were at risk. It wasn't like she had to take the money from the register or anything! No! She just had to smash a mirror that was host to a vengeful spirit, hellbent on killing anyone with a deadly secret.

Qrow and Yang slowly strolled into the isolated room in the store room that currently housed Charlie. Yang wasn't entirely sure why she had to be there. Probably to create the illusion that this was an official VBI office. Qrow had even forced the fiery blonde to wear a suit, and put her hair up for this. Though, he had prefaced this whole thing by prohibiting any reflective items in the room. No belts, weapons, swords, guns, watches, lien, badges or scrolls. Either way, he had still gone through the trouble of making Yang a badge and making her commit the name on it to memory.

"Where did Jett go?" Charlie asked upon seeing Yang. She had clear anxiety about Ruby's absence.

"She had something to take care of." Yang suddenly took the lead, "I'm Special Agent Ackles." She told the younger girl. There was a long, awkward silence for a few seconds there, but Qrow quickly interrupted it.

"Charlie," he calmly said, "we need to know what happened."

"We were in the bathroom." She told him, "Donna said it." Qrow shook his head.

"That's not what we're talking about." He told her. "Something happened, didn't it? In your life...a secret...where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?" She looked shocked for a brief second before fear overtook her face once more. It was clear they were heavily intimidating her. She gulped and nodded hesitantly.

[Shift]

On the opposite side of the bunker; Ruby hurriedly stepped out of her room, now dressed in her usual combat attire. It felt different on her body after Yang cleaned it. For starters; it felt clean. But there was also a weight lifted from her belt. Ruby was thankful to no longer be carrying the relic, and would certainly not miss the weight of it on either her belt, or her shoulders. She had enough to worry about as it currently stood. She really didn't need to worry about Grimm hunting her 24/7 because of it. Even if she did still have it, the bunker was heavily warded, and no Grimm would be about to detect in behind those walls.

"Hey," A voice called from her left, causing her to jump.

A scared, "eep!" Escaped her lips, but when she saw who it was, she realized she had no need to be afraid. "Jaune!" She indignantly whined, "you scared me!"

"Oh, sorry." He said. The boy paused for a brief second. "I couldn't help but overhear this whole 'Mary' situation, and I want to help."

Ruby threw her hands up in a friendly manner, "I don't see why not!" She happily said, "But we gotta hurry." He nodded and the two briskly jogged out the bunker door.

[Shift]

"I had this boyfriend." Charlie told them, "I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know? And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said 'Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself' And you know what I said? I said 'Go ahead.' And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just...I didn't believe him, you know? I should have." She pulled her knees to her chest and began to sob heavily into them. Yang made a sympathetic face and decided to give the girl some space. They got the information they needed, there was no need to keep this interrogation going.

She and her uncle stepped back out into the hallway, slowly walking side by side as they made their way back to the library.

"That's not really her fault," Yang sadly said.

"Spirits don't exactly see in shades of grey," he told her, "she had a secret, someone died. Good enough for Mary."

[Shift]

Ruby glanced back down at the address Qrow had given her, very glad the rain had stopped before she and Jaune had left. The pawnshop wasn't much further now. It would be over soon. Charlie would be safe and no one else would have to worry about Mary.

"I've been thinking." Jaune suddenly spoke up. "It might not be enough to just smash that mirror." Ruby gave her fellow leader a concerned look.

"Why?" She asked, "What do you mean?"

"You said she's hard to pin down, right?" He asked. She nodded, "I mean she moves around from mirror to mirror so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in them forever? So maybe we should try to pin her down, you know, summon her to her mirror and then smash it."

"Well, who's gonna summon her?" Ruby asked, seeming as though she wasn't even beginning to consider this method.

"I will." He softly said. "She'll come after me."

"You know what?" She angrily asked, "That's it." She stopped dead in her tracks and turned. "This is about Pyrrha, isn't it? You think you killed her? Jaune, this has gotta stop! The self-loathing and the all-night training—it's gonna kill you! Listen to me, Jaune; it wasn't your fault! If you wanna blame someone, blame Cinder. Or hell, take a swing at me! I'm the one who failed to save her!" By the end of her angry and concerned rant, Ruby was choking back sobs.

"I don't blame you." He quickly told her. He could never blame her.

"You shouldn't blame yourself either." She said, trying to calm herself down. "Because there's nothing you could have done."

"That's not true." He stoically said.

"What could you have done, Jaune?!" She asked, trying—and failing to keep her emotions in check this time. "There is nothing any of us could have done. And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway."

"You don't."

"I don't what?" Ruby asked, fearing the answer.

"You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything." He said, continuing on the route to the shop and forcing her to keep up with him.

"What are you talking about?!" She asked.

"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you." He simply said.

"No." She sternly said. "I don't like it. Not gonna happen. Forget it." This time, he was the one to stop.

"Ruby, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? Now we're doing this. You've got to let me do this." He passionately told her. She stood there for a moment after he finished, her hands shaking with pure rage, sadness and worry. He had backed her into a corner here. On one hand; she knew he was right, but on the other; she had sworn to herself after Penny that she was done watching her friends die. That one was enough. But then Pyrrha died. Ruby took the weight of every death that she had been witness to, and she would not have his blood on her hands. She had to make sure nothing happened to him—or any of her friends for that matter. If any more of them died because of her own negligence, she'd never forgive herself.

The crimsonette suddenly succumbed to her anger and punched the building behind her harder than she had ever hit anything. The brick cracked. If not for her aura, it would have broken her hand.

[Shift]

When the two finally arrived at the pawnshop, Ruby pulled the picture of Mary's mirror from her pocket, scanning the store with her scroll's flashlight.

"Maybe they've already sold it!" Jaune called from the other end of the store.

"I don't think so." Ruby told him. Her light stopped on a mirror identical to the one in the picture. Jaune walked over to get a look, and she handed him the picture. It was the same mirror alright.

"That's it." He said.

"You sure about this?" She nervously asked. Jaune said nothing and pulled out Crocea Mors, staring intently and nervously at the mirror. He sighed.

"Bloody Mary." He said. Ruby's anxiety about this whole thing began to skyrocket. "Bloody Mary." He gave her an unsure look that she returned. "Bloody Mary." He finished the chant, and the both of them waited for the spirit to arrive.

A/N: I fully intended to finish the Mary plot this chapter, but I really could not help myself


	5. The Song Remains The Same

As the two waited with bated breath for Mary to show her ugly mug, Ruby noticed a light coming in through the front door of the store. She quietly cursed under her breath.

"Crap," she turned back to Jaune, "I'll go check that out. Stay here, be careful. Smash anything that moves." She slowly began to slink over to the door, trying to discreetly poke her head around the corner before quickly pulling it back. The lights originated from a car. The headlights of a police car, to be precise. "Crap." She said again. She very calmly and slowly walked out.

"Hold it." The Officer commanded.

"Whoa," Ruby shielded her eyes from the bright headlights, "false alarm. I tripped the system."

"And Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm the boss' niece." She managed to very convincingly spit out.

"Right," He said, not entirely believing her, "What're you doing here all by yourself at this hour?"

[Shift]

Jaune suddenly saw Mary in a mirror out of the corner of his eye, and wildly swung at it, shattering the mirror to his left. He saw her again on his right and smashed that one too before pivoting back to Mary's mirror. He still only his reflection. But that reflection soon took on a mind of its own, tilting its head from side to side like a deadly ghost dog.

His breaths became far and few inbetween. His lungs desperately attempted pulling more air in, but it was a futile attempt. He felt his own blood beginning to trickle down his face like tears, as he dropped his sword and clutched his heart, gasping for air as he fell to his knees.

"It's your fault," the reflection hissed, "you killed her! You killed Pyrrha!"

[Shift]

Ruby wasn't a very good liar, this much she knew. That, and the cops were sizing her up. They could tell that she was clearly a huntress, and were making some kind of attempt to cover her front to back. To make sure she couldn't bolt.

"I don't have time for this right now," she huffed under her breath. "Sorry about this." Ruby took a deep breath and lunged forward, catching one cop's face with her fist. The second tried to quickly move in on her, but she was quicker. She gracefully turned and backhanded him before punching the first cop again, leaving the both of them sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the parking lot.

Ruby quietly congratulated herself, feeling so much better now that she had actually bested someone in hand-to-hand combat. Then she remembered what Jaune was doing and turned to go back inside.

[Shift]

"You never earned your spot at Beacon," Jaune's reflection hissed at him, "you forged those transcripts! If you hadn't faked your way in, she would have had a competent leader by her side! And she died protecting you! You failed her, you—!" But the reflection didn't get to finish, as a flash of rose petals sudden smashed the mirror to pieces.

"Jaune!" Ruby worriedly cried, "are you okay?!" He nodded.

"Y-Yeah," he told her, "I'm—I'm fine." Ruby held out a hand for him, and he took it. Her strong, scythe-holding arms allowing her to easily haul him to his feet. She took his arm and threw it over her shoulder, helping her hurt friend hobble out with a growing guilt in her chest.

But it wasn't over yet. She stole a last glance at Mary's shattered mirror, only to see that Mary herself had crawled out of it and was standing just a few feet behind them.

Her sickly pale skin matched her white nightgown, But was a stark contrast to her unruly black hair that obscured most of her face. Ruby couldn't really bear to look at the woman for more than a few seconds before she collapsed. She couldn't breathe as she clutched her chest. Her eyes even began to cry the same bloody tears Jaune had been sporting.

The blonde boy next to Ruby thought fast, grabbing a mirror to maybe try and divert Mary's power away from the two of them, unsure of what that might really do. Mary froze when she saw her own reflection. She seemed to have a very similar reaction to the one Jaune and Ruby had given. She began to slowly choke to death, bloody tears now running down her own face before she did something that none of the victims had done; she melted into a puddle of blood. Once Mary was gone, and the two were sure of it, Ruby snatched the mirror from Jaune's hands and shattered it against the floor. That was the last instance of Bloody Mary and they had to cut her off permanently.

The two teens just laid on the floor of the pawnshop, panting. They had each almost suffered the same fate as Jill and Mr. Shoemaker, and if Ruby was to be entirely honest, it wasn't a fun experience in the least.

"This has gotta be… what?" She suddenly asked, "a thousand years of bad luck?"

Jaune wearily chuckled.

"I got a good lawyer," he insisted, "I'm sure we could get it down to a hundred, given the circumstances." Ruby gave him a weak smile, before the two slowly stood, beginning the trek back to the bunker.

[Shift]

Nora and Yang hadn't been too happy to find all the blood on the two's clothes and faces—despite their attempts to wipe it from the latter. Both pushed their leaders to rest, but only Jaune took his team's advice. Ruby wouldn't rest just yet. She refused. Part of Yang knew why. But another part would never understand. Ruby was the leader, she was the cornerstone of the team. She had to be strong. She had to push forward no matter what. But another part of her had begun to fear sleep. The Fall and Salem had plagued her nights with awful nightmares. Nightmares that only seemed to grow in intensity as time went on.

None of her team from Beacon actually knew that Ruby was a hunted woman. Only RNJR and Qrow knew. Ruby intended to keep it that way. If any of her teammates found out that Salem was already after their leader, they would become overwhelmingly paranoid. They would try to protect her. Ruby didn't want that. She didn't want her friends trying to fight people that even Qrow had difficulty dropping. They would know when they needed to know, and as far as Ruby was concerned, it remained a non-issue for the time being.

For now, she'd focus on hunting; draw them away from the larger battle in favor of busywork. She knew it wouldn't work very long. Salem would make her presence known in Atlas soon and they'd have to move onto Vacuo to protect the final relic. There was no way Salem would stop. This would never end. The cycle would continue long after they all died.

And the song would remain the same.


End file.
